Semi-monthly news and updates about the homes, people, businesses and communities that are featured in Lake Washington 130 Homes. This covers the Lake Washington waterfront in Seattle’s Madison Park, Denny-Blaine and Madrona neighborhoods, Mercer Island, and The Eastside communities of Bellevue, Medina, Hunts Point and Yarrow Point.
(The above home belongs to Charles Simonyi. See 5/31/11 post.)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Peter Edwards buys $40 Million Lytle Mansion for $10 or $12 Million


The former Lytle mansion on Mercer Island sold in the June 2010 auction. My previous blogs regarding the auction are below and dated 5/24/10 and 2/20/10. The 1st auction had a minimum bid of $15 million. Several bids were submitted but each was contingent on a sale of property and all these were rejected. The 2nd auction minimum bid was $12 million without contingencies. The buyer was James “Peter” Edwards, the founder and CEO of Video Only. The Edwards family is moving from the Lakemont area of Bellevue.


Peter founded Seattle area (Tukwila) based Video Only in 1982 and it has grown to 14 stores in WA, OR and CA. The company is privately held by Edwards and his family. We bought our last TV from them and highly recommend them.

The home was featured on KING 5's Evening Magazine on April 12, 2010.

Both houses are in my book (pages 46 and 157): http://www.hundredhomes.net/


More in formation is in previous 5/24/10 and 2/20/10 posts.

5 comments:

  1. You "highly recommend" these crooks? One of the reasons VIDEO ONLY has grown is because of its predatory return policy: THEY DON'T GIVE PEOPLE THEIR MONEY BACK, pure and simple.

    Edwards is profiting by keeping the money of people who bought an item, then returned it because they weren't happy with it. VIDEO ONLY then gives a "store credit" which expires, giving VIDEO ONLY money it doesn't deserve to have.

    Glad you had a good experience; mine was exactly the opposite and I'll never darken the door of another VIDEO ONLY -- except to serve them with court papers!

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  2. I decided to take a look at my receipt after reading the previous post. I can get my money back on anything that is new in the box. Opened merchandise I can return for exchange or in-store-credit for up to 30 days. The receipt says I have 1 year to use my in-store-credit. Sounds to me like this guy was trying to rent something and was mad when he couldn't get away with it! (Video Only does not beleive in rip-off "re-stocking" fees like most big box retailers.

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  3. The first comment up at the top is ridiculous. You signed a copy of your invoice at the bottom that very specifically tells you your return policy. Maybe you should read a little before signing things.

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  4. Peter Edwards treats his employees like crap. Bought a big new house and now the employees get no benefits. Rethink shopping at this place.

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    1. I appreciate what you have said, a good way to vote is with your dollar. In Spokane Video Only uses contractors of the lowest quality, which pay a white worker by the hour rate and a latino by the board foot. Making one toil twice as hard to make the same pay. Contractors such as these with these practices lower area standards and erode competitive levels of contractors that pay employee benefits and pay decent working wages.

      This reminds me of a John Ruskin quote: "It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better." - But I am sure it was worth it just look at that house he was able to purchase? Good choice....

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